Bonus Scene: What is to become of me?
A new deleted scene (or maybe not…) from the upcoming book!
Walker slipped through the open passage door, silent and dark as death. Had he been prey, Darcy would have been dead. Leaving the door to the dragon passages open was one of those little acts of trust that marked the decades of their Friendship.
Walker glided to the mantle, above the low fire warming Darcy’s chamber at the Blue Order offices. A little show of dominance, being over Darcy’s head, that both was and was not a demonstration of dominance. That Darcy permitted it was a statement of his esteem for Walker.
No one ever suggested having dragon Friends was simple or uncomplicated.
“I imagine this means you have no new news.” Darcy murmured, staring into his half-empty tumbler of port. It was tempting to drown himself in it, but something insisted he be ready at a moment’s notice, so he merely used it to knock the razor’s edge off his anxiety.
“No.” Walker hissed the word, wings half-extended. “You need to talk to April.”
“I saw her just a few hours ago when I brought her a fresh jam and honey pot from Darcy House. I still do not understand why no one here deigns to provide her with sufficient sweets. It is not as though any other dragons have the penchant for them that fairy dragons do.”
“That may be the issue all told.” Walker lifted his foot and picked at something between his toes. “Go talk to her. Now. She is with Lady Wentworth in the ladies’ sitting room.”
It was late, and Darcy was tired, and hardly in the mood for company. But what sort of Friend would he be to ignore such a demand?
He set his port aside and pushed up from the large leather chair. Had he aged so much in the last few weeks that he could no longer mange that easily? Gardiner and Bennet certainly had.
Darcy knocked at the ladies’ door, the inlaid agate eyes of the drake carved into the door staring back at him. Was that disapproval in its expression.
“I am so glad to see you, Sir Fitzwilliam.” Lady Wentworth opened the door and ushered him in. The first rays of sunset filtered into the room, painting it dramatic reds and oranges. “She will not tell me what is troubling her, but it is clear that something is very much.”
“Would it be an imposition to ask you to permit me some time alone with her?”
“I had planned on it. Corn and Wall will come with me as well. We shall be in the library if you have need of us.” She slipped past him, the two wyrmlings in her wake.
The door clicked shut behind him and he scanned the room. Signs of Elizabeth’s sisters were strewn everywhere. A sewing basket, laying open on its side in the middle of the couch. Books, probably Georgiana’s, sitting open on a nearby chair. A half-finished board game occupied a small table near the window. And April’s fairy dragon ‘cage’ on the mantle to keep warm near the fireplace.
At least she would be warm there.
A little mass of blue huddled on the cage floor, shuddering.
Did fairy dragons cry?
It only took five steps to cross the length of the room to the cage. “April?”
She did not even lift her head.
“Are you well?”
“No. No I am not.” She tucked her beaky nose under her wing.
“Pray, come out and tell me about it.” He offered his hand as a perch. “I did bring you the jam and honey as you requested.”
She lifted her head slightly and looked at him with one eye, evaluating, considering. Her entire being drooping, she hopped to his hand.
He pulled a chair close to the low first and sat down, holding her close to eye level. “Pray tell me, what is wrong?”
“What is wrong? What sort of fool are you? Everything is wrong and you know it. Everything is wrong!”
He stroked the back of her neck, soothing ruffled feather-scales. “Beyond the very obvious. What is wrong?”
She rocked back and forth, keening softly. Her mournful notes pinched his heart. “What is to become of me? What is to become of me?”
“Become of you? Whatever do you mean?”
“If … if … something happens to her? What is to become of me?”
Of course. It was so obvious now that she voiced it. But it was a good question. He drew a breath to speak, but released it in a sigh. That was not the right thing to say. Nor was that. Nor that. “What do you want? That is to say, should you not be the one to decide that?”
She looked up at him, head turned half upside down. “Do you mean that?”
“Of course, I do. You know I am not apt to say what I do not mean.”
“I am to choose my own fate, my own direction?” Her eyes grew large as if surprised.
“Certainly. And in so far as I am able, I will see to it your wishes are honored.” He scratched under her chin. “I hope though, that if such a decision does become necessary, that you would choose to stay with me. I know I am not your particular Friend—”
She chirped, loud and sharp and pecked his hand. “I have never said that.”
It was difficult not to drop her when she did that. “I would not presume—”
“You do not need to. You are my … Friend … like she is.” She ran her cheek along his hand.
Darcy swallowed back a lump in his throat. “I am honored.”
“I know. That’s why you are my Friend.”
He drew her close to his chest, and she leaned into him. “Somehow my little Friend, we will all get through this and things will be right in the world once more. I do not know how. But they will.”
Oh my Gosh! I can’t wait to narrate it! What a tender little scene.
Weird observation from an audiobook narrator – might you change the adjective “new” news to something like “additional” news. It always feels weird to repeat the same word with different meaning like that… But you’re the author, so… Whatever you think.
Or perhaps “fresh news”?
Elizabeth must be in labor!
My heart got very soft <3
Have a beautiful day
Doris
Loved the scene! I wonder where Elizabeth is, though…
Is Elizabeth Ill since mr Bennet, Gardiner and Darcy have all aged so much?
Oh heavens! What’s wrong with Elizabeth? Is she struggling with childbirth? Or with a fever after childbirth? Or has she had some sort of accident? I can’t bear this not knowing! Also I wonder why Darcy isn’t with her, holding her hand and begging her not to leave him? I definitely need more information and sooner rather than later! Please!
It involves pain, for everyone apparently. Oh dear, now I’m worried.
It must involve Elizabeth, she must be sick, in childbed, kidnapped or very ill. Why isn’t Darcy hovering over her???
Yes, I have to agree with the other reviewers. Something dreadful has happened to Elizabeth because Darcy is acting older than his years, and April is down in the dumps. What an opening scene!
Some terrible existential threat surrounds Elizabeth, and she is not wherever Darcy and April are. Either they don’t know where she is, or it would put her in greater danger to go where she is. And things do not look good. Poor Darcy; poor April.
WHEN IS THIS BOOK GOING TO BE PUBLISHED?!?!?!
You DO realize what a horrific cliff-hanger you have presented us, don’t you? How cruel! We need to know how this resolves! When the book does come out, I’ll make sure to start reading it early int he morning in the hopes of getting sleep that next night, after finishing the marathon reading session.
Not having a novelist’s imagination, I can’t think what might have happened to age Mr. Bennet, Mr. Gardiner and possibly Mr. Darcy that has been going on for weeks. And apparently involved Elizabeth’s sisters’ presence at Pemberley, too. As if we weren’t already waiting with bated breath for the next book in the series!
I remember that Elizabeth was expecting but don’t know what happened or how she did in her confinement. Oh, dear. Now I will worry until the book is out. Guess I’ll have to grab it and see what happens. Poor April. That was a most excellent scene with Darcy. Thanks for sharing… I think. Blessings, stay safe, and healthy.
I can’t imagine why you might delete such a powerful scene unless a plot variation rendered it obsolete, but I have faith that you will decide for the best. Here’s my guess:
Perhaps Elizabeth is on some sort of dangerous mission related to dragon/human relations or war? Walker may be involved in the assignment or has an inside source of information. The situation must be too dangerous for April or somehow inappropriate. I imagine everyone is on edge in the scene and Elizabeth’s loved ones have aged because they feel worried about the situation in general and Elizabeth in particular — but remain helpless. Somehow Elizabeth is voluntarily on her own (or possibly with her sisters). If she were under duress, Darcy would not seem so resigned to waiting.
I want to take this opportunity to say that your books made the pandemic isolation much easier to endure. I read everything you write, but this series is my favorite. I am so thankful for your gift of writing.
This is my first experience with dragons in the context of Jane Austen’s characters. Fascinating idea. I’m not new to dragons, but I’m new to this, so my thoughts may not fit here. My impression is that April may be having one of those agonizing epiphanies when life crushes her with the reality of her future. I’ve had those recently, so I can relate. I’ve also lived in a cage in another kind of life, so I relate to both the safety and the sacrilege of such a thing. I love April’s testiness which precedes her affectionate gesture with Darcy —- She chirped, loud and sharp and pecked his hand. “I have never said that.” —- and her question “What is to become of me?” It was this question that enticed me into the excerpt. What is to become of me? Haunting, really. Must it be something related to Elizabeth? Or would it be possible and appropriate to extend the reader’s perspective into the psyche of the fairy dragon outside the context of Elizabeth’s llfe, as in the dragon takes a flight of fancy into an alternate world (what about a cameo from another Jane Austen character or novel)? Just a thought, as I said, and I’m new to this, so I don’t know the rules. LOVE THIS! Will check out your dragon books.
Deb
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